On how the defense is progressing:“I think we made some solid improvements from when you look back on a game like Florida or some of our early games—even Creighton. They put up pretty big scoring numbers on us. I think we’ve done a lot better job of helping each other and rotating defensively. When one guy steps up to help we’ve done a better job. When a big guy steps up to help, the guards are wrapping back in and deflecting passes and doing all those things—sticking their nose in there, being aggressive, knocking balls off guys legs, stuff like that. Those are things we’ve got to do. There’s still room for improvement, but we’ve definitely made some strides."

On slowing down Justin Simmons:“Just doing the same things we always do. Just try to force him into tough spots. If he was coming off ball screens maybe show a little help. Guards stay on the chase with him. Try to force him into a tough shot. There are no secrets to what we do. Really just sticking to our rules.”

On how the defense is progressing:“Obviously we’ve made some strides. Coach is putting that into us every day and stressing on that. For myself included, that’s something I’ve got to be a lot better at. I beat myself up about it, just because I want to be a good defender for this team, but there are times where I feel like I’m letting myself down and the guys down. You’ve just got to keep working and get better at those things.”

On being able to watch the game from the bench, then come in:“You can see what our team needs or where they need a spark in those certain spots. Usually it’s a different thing every day. Overall, I just want to bring energy. Today, we had a little slow start offensively and I came in and tried to get some offensive boards going to the glass. Those are things I can do for our team to help us win. Those first few minutes I really take advantage so I can see the game flow and what we need for me to come in and what I have to do.”

On what to take from recent increase in turnovers by the opposition:“At the end of the day, we’ve just got to live and die by what we know and that’s sticking to the rules. We’re getting better at helping and recovering or picking up for the next guy when something goes wrong. So, from day one to where we are now, it’s better, but there’s still more room for improvement. Just staying solid defensively, at the end of the day just stay solid.”

On bouncing back from the loss to Virginia:“I think all three losses—even with the Virginia game—they still were eating away at us. There are definitely some things—especially in the Virginia game—that just stuck with us. I know a lot of guys took that personally. Just (being) ready for what’s coming on Saturday. We’re looking forward to getting our practice and getting better for that one.”

Nebraska-Omaha Head Coach Derrin Hansen Postgame Quotes

Opening Statement:“The first thing, coming here, we've been on the road for a long time. I think at the end of the day, Wisconsin is a really good basketball team. They know what they do, they play how they play, their size obviously hurts us because we're young and inexperienced right now. We're obviously not that big, we like to play inside-out and obviously they took a lot of that away from us tonight. When you don't make any outside shots on top, it can snowball on you a little bit. They’re very methodical, they’re very efficient in what they do on the offensive and defensive end, and it benefits their size. Eventually those things wore into us and the score got to where it got.”

On facing Wisconsin’s defense:“It goes back to their size again. In the Summit League, our bigs will be competitive and we like to play inside-out and it's really hard to do that with Wisconsin’s size because it’s hard for us to establish that first, if at all. Once you throw it back out, they can close quickly and make it hard and contest every shot. So when you can’t establish inside, low shots outside are contested, it tends to be a long night.”

On stopping Ben Brust from long range and if there is any way to defend it:“No, not for us. Maybe Tom Izzo can, I can't. That makes it difficult because there were three or four times tonight where I thought we followed our scout pretty well and made a guy take a shot, but then they pulled up in transition, where I think Brust got one in transition and he hits one when we lost him in the zone. Those things we talked about for about 48 hours but he caught loose a couple times. When he hits them that deep, tip your hat and move forward.”

On biggest challenges in transitioning to Division I:“Number one is that we’re 18 months into it, so I have to be realistic as well. Number one is the size of the bodies. Division II we were fine, and we had some really really good and talented years. The size of the athletes, your wings have gone from 6’2” to 6’5” and your bigs have gone from 6’7” to 6’10” 260. Now it’s not that way every night in the Summit League. In the Summit we will be a little more towards the middle than we will be playing against BCS schools. Our issue is with BCS schools and it’s really exaggerated some of our issues that maybe we won't have in the Summit League.”

On having three players get to play in their home state of Wisconsin:“I think it's great. It happened that way, it didn't happen by design. I appreciate Wisconsin playing us. It’s a great thing for those guys, it’s a good thing for them to come back and play in front of a lot of family and friends because that doesn’t happen for them very often in Omaha. I was really happy for those guys and I’m glad they all got time and all got minutes tonight.”

On the team’s focus in the long road trip:“Like I said, we’re young and an inexperienced team. Some of our weaknesses have been exaggerated against BCS-type schools and tonight it unraveled a little bit for us. We’re tired. I’ll admit I wasn’t quite sure what town I was in when I woke up today, to be real honest with you. I felt like Bon Jovi kind of. I wasn’t real sure. We’re looking real forward to going back.”